ACTivate your mind: 3 ACT TOOLS to unlock peak performance

You train harder, eat better, and optimise recovery. But what about your mindset?

The approach I use when working with athletes on their mindset goes beyond mental skills training – it’s called Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACT).

So, what is ACT?

ACT is a powerful approach for performers who become stuck by their internal experiences. Instead of teaching you to suppress or fight difficult thoughts and feelings (which often creates more suffering), ACT teaches you how to change your relationship with those internal experiences. It teaches you to cultivate Psychological Flexibility - the ability to focus your actions on what matters, even when challenging thoughts and feelings show up.

To become more psychologically flexible, we need to learn tools around being open, being present and doing what matters. Whether you are struggling to cope with pressure, crippled by anxiety or becoming increasingly consumed by mistakes, try these ACT tools for an alternative solution to managing your difficult thoughts and feelings in sport.

Being open

In being open, we learn to embrace our thoughts and feelings, without trying to change them. When unhelpful thoughts show up e.g. What if I fail? Our instinct is to fight them, remove them, suppress them – this struggle makes the thoughts stronger.

ACT TOOL: “Thank you, brain”

Sounds silly right? Try it out!

When you thank your brain, you are no longer fighting with it. Instead, you’re acknowledge the thought that has shown up – “What if I fail?” and simply thanking your brain for bringing this thought into your mind. You can play around with how you thank your brain by calling it different names e.g. “thanks, drama brain,” “thanks, melon.” Using humour helps separate you from the thought you are having.

Being present

How much of our time in our heads is spent in the past or future? How helpful is this for high-performance?

Being present is crucial for effortlessly performing to the best of our abilities.

ACT tool: engage with your senses

You can practice this with any activity that you do on a regular basis, e.g. brushing your teeth, waiting for the kettle to boil, getting ready to go out. Notice what you can see, hear, feel, touch, and taste around you. It’s not an easy task, so keep practicing to get your mind used to being in the here and now. When you’re ready, use this tool at training and matches when you notice yourself zoning out (to the past or future).

Doing what matters

What truly matters to you? When we experience unhelpful and thoughts and feelings, these usually move us away from what’s important to us. For example, having the thought “What if I fail” before a match, becoming consumed by this thought and during the match playing it safe (avoiding any risky moves) in case you make a mistake.  

ACT tool: identify your values

Think about the type of athlete you want to be. What qualities are important for you to live by when you’re performing (e.g. humility, courage, trust, connection, growth, persistence). There are no right or wrong values, choose what’s important to you so that you have a clear direction of where you want to go. Then use your values to guide the actions you take despite any uncomfortable thoughts that show up. This can be hard so making a commitment to yourself to act in line with your values is really important.

Your mind is like a GPS

Think of your mind like a GPS navigation system: it constantly provides directions, warnings, and critiques. Traditional approaches try to smash the screen or force the GPS to change its route (which is often exhausting and impossible). ACT simply teaches you to lower the volume on the critical voice, accept that the car has a GPS, and keep driving in the direction of your highest values.

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Summary

The key takeaway of ACT is this - you don't have to wait for your mind to be perfectly calm or confident to perform at your best. Instead, train yourself to adopt psychological flexibility. Your goal is not to eliminate internal pain, but to learn how to drive the car toward your values, even if the critical GPS voice is screaming warnings in the passenger seat.

This blog provides a basic foundation of tools that athletes can use to reach their peak performance. For further support in how to use these ACT tools plus many more tools, book in your free consultation with me.

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